Aviagen puts hatchery work in sharp focus

14-11-2011 | Home | News

Practical problem solving was one of the key topics at the 3rd annual meeting of Aviagen’s Hatchery Support Working Group held in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The meeting was organised by Aviagen’s incubation specialist team, Dinah Nicholson, Nick French, Eddy van Lierde and Steve Tullett. It was attended by representatives of the company’s production and technical teams from across the globe.

This year saw 29 people from across Aviagen’s business regions come together to share information on hatchery issues, with the aim of increasing knowledge, sharing common problems and refining solutions.

“As a small hatchery specialist team, we have to maximise our effectiveness to Aviagen and our customers,” said Dr Dinah Nicolson, Global Manager, Hatchery Development and Support.

“These meetings are an invaluable way of lifting the knowledge of all the Aviagen people dealing with internal and customer technical support. With our worldwide reach we are able to look at hatcheries operating in all climates and circumstances. This gives us the opportunity to learn from each other about the common issues we all face.

Meeting regularly, we can share information and the advice we are giving and make sure that everyone is up to date. We get feedback on field priorities and can evaluate how best to tackle them with the people on the ground. This session will help inform our hatchery support and research strategies going forward.”

“Information is key – small changes in practice can have big effects on hatch and chick quality. Before attending the meeting everyone filled in a questionnaire about what field issues they were seeing. Among the commonest were uneven setter temperatures and poor hatch after longer egg storage. This sort of information helps us to prioritise trials and to refine our advice in these areas to improve the technical service we can provide.”

Source: Aviagen